<p>it's known that asians are the second largest category of students at harvard if we were to break it down by ethnicity. it is also known that harvard values students that not only have outstanding academics but outstanding ec's and passions as well. being asian i know that asians place great value on academics alone most of the time. so my question is, what's the "typical" asian acceptee to harvard? if there is one? (yes i'm aware everyone has their own passions etc. but there must be a general sort of stereotype?)</p>
<p>I want to know too.
But both my academics and ecs suck so bad.</p>
<p>By the way, I came from HK 9 months ago, will it help?</p>
<p>No, I think it is not helping from Hong Kong at all. People from Hong Kong are overrepresented in regard to other foreign contry/region.</p>
<p>sorry~ I don't know why there are so many HK people... hahhaah... maybe HK is too crowd. :P</p>
<p>well, it's just a city, albeit a large city, but they send about 3 to 5 representatives a year, not bad for a foreign "country"</p>
<p>well actually i was referring to asian-americans, not asians from abroad! from what i know, internationals to harvard are tough in general.</p>
<p>I don't think it is a typical asian-american in Harvard. Do not apply as a typical, apply as an unique as yourself.</p>
<p>is international to harvard any tougher than domestic?</p>
<p>international is much harder than a us citizen...</p>
<p>thank you sunsun =) ! that's what i heard too ! my friend insists that her sat I scores can be "excused" because she's an international and it's much easier for her to apply, but she's been here for i guess 5-6 years now and she won't listen to me -.-</p>
<p>Yubi:
I know too much asian americans with superb GPA, SATs scores and 10+years music did not get in HYPS etc. Just do 1-3 things you SHOULD do and they are definitely your responsibility to do them. Any efforts for making a show will alomost certainly be disappointed. Don't follow others paths,even they are sucessful ones. One specific path only fits a unique person. The real chanllenge is what is YOUR PATH.</p>
<p>Why do Asian-Americans get the short end of the stick? That is because we all believe there is only one way to get in. According to Asian-American society here, top-notch scores, valedictorian, national science winner or something, etc. are the key. However, this is simply not the case. </p>
<p>What Harvard is definitely looking for is kids with humanity. Not just superb academic students, but kids that have human elements to them and that show promise. Byerly's post on the Boston Magazine(?) article basically makes sense. Harvard really does not care about your past achievements.</p>
<p>This is why whenever I go home to NYC on JetBlue or something, I can basically pick out who goes to Harvard and who does not. Even kids that I just can't get along with (like one of my roommates), I can see why Harvard accepted him.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I did not have all 800s and 5s and won ISEF or anything. However, there are kids who did have that too. It's a nice mix of students. People think Harvard places more emphasis on testing than it really does, and never will someone get rejected because they had a 700 while someone else had an 800.</p>
<p>I'm Indian-American if that counts...yes, I think I would qualify as the academic overacheiver, but there's more to the application. Numbers don't get you accepted to Harvard...your personality, ambition, and accomplishments do.</p>
<p>thank you all for the posts! it gives me so much motivation!! =) because all along i was worried that my academics were just not up to par! only a 2160 on sat I and i even got a C+ as one of my final averages in an honors class before! thank you all again!</p>
<p>last bump - didn't want to leave the number at .. a bad one =p superstitious.. ? perhaps.. ^^</p>
<p>That "kids with humanity" crap is ********. The intangible part of the application was invented to keep the Jews out of Harvard in the early part of the twentieth century. Read The Chosen by Jerome Karabel and you will know what I'm talking about. I invite you to explain how any admissions committee at any college can truly know what kind of person you are from a paper application and a single interview. Cut the crap. Yes, you can identify off a JetBlue flight what kind of people will succeed in life, but no, you can't predict that they'll get into Harvard. Amazing school and bright future, yes. Admissions to a specific college, no. </p>
<p>You can have all the humanity in the world, but if you have a 2000 SAT and a 3.7 GPA, forget it. Besides URMs, I mean.</p>
<p>Asian-Americans get the short end of the stick simply because we are overrepresented in higher education. The total Asian-American population in the US is around 4%; the presence at top institutions ranges from 10% to 35%. Therefore Asian-Americans are hit with the reverse end of affirmative action. Admissions officers roll their eyes when they see an Asian kid with high test scores and GPA. And they set the bar higher.</p>
<p>Then I have no chance at all... hahahah I have a high GPA, 3.9... but my ECs and SATs are all crap.</p>
<p>hmm.. haha you know what i thought just now would be really interesting? if we looked back through the threads on this forum to compile data on the asian-american students accepted both EA and ED. although i'm not sure if it would be a large enough sample and it's definitely not a random one (being on CC in the first place). well just a thought =) and i think both matters in the admission factors.. there are quite a number of people who are admitted because of "passion" and it's definitely not ****** because it is harped on not only at harvard, and remember, harvard looks for students who are not only academically successful. the asian-americans who i personally know were all exceptional in either music or something else (although i do concede that their academics were definitely not subpar at all). from what i've read and gathered, it seems that the grades are a "cut-off" if you will at some point or another (though harvard is known to have some exceptions and their area of "specialty" unidentified). so in conclusion, grades to matter, but in the end what gets you into harvard, from what everyone, including nonbiased and experienced people say, is passion that can't be faked =p</p>
<p>HOOOOWWWWEEEEVVEEEERRRR! the original question still remains to be unanswered! unleeeeesss =) there is nooooo absolutely nooooo stereotype of the typical asian harvard student!?!?! but i'm just curious since yes there is a great percentage there. however, i think hotrocks is valid on that point: academics!</p>
<p>any other suggestions? comments? ideas?</p>
<p>thehotrocks:</p>
<p>I guess I will deconstruct your argument one by one, take it as you will, although if people are going to twist my advice in some way, there's no point for me to be here; after all, I already got in. </p>
<ol>
<li>"That "kids with humanity" crap is ********. The intangible part of the application was invented to keep the Jews out of Harvard in the early part of the twentieth century. Read The Chosen by Jerome Karabel and you will know what I'm talking about."</li>
</ol>
<p>I have read it already. However, how are you going to change history? We can't do anything about the past; however, we can learn from the past and change the future. Harvard with its financial aid initiative and its minority recruitment program in place for the past 25 years are a testament to how Harvard is making changes - one small step at a time. </p>
<ol>
<li>"I invite you to explain how any admissions committee at any college can truly know what kind of person you are from a paper application and a single interview. Cut the crap. Yes, you can identify off a JetBlue flight what kind of people will succeed in life, but no, you can't predict that they'll get into Harvard. Amazing school and bright future, yes. Admissions to a specific college, no."</li>
</ol>
<p>First, I said whenever I go home to NY from Boston, I can always tell who the Harvard kids are. I never said I knew who I knew was going to succeed or not.</p>
<p>Second, you are offending admissions officers. Their job is to know how to read between the lines. Many of them, including mine, are graduates of Harvard and also have been at Harvard College Admissions for 15+ years. I know many of the admissions officers and they certainly know what they're doing. You may not know how to read people by looking at little things, but our admissions officers do. That's why you see perfect scores, GPAs, national, international winners (what have you) get rejected all the time.</p>
<p>3." You can have all the humanity in the world, but if you have a 2000 SAT and a 3.7 GPA, forget it. Besides URMs, I mean."</p>
<p>Really? I was 30th out of 284 kids, I didn't win anything national, international, I didn't have perfect SAT scores, I didn't do anything amazing like be on USA's First Academic Team or whatever. I got in after being deferred EA. And I'm an asian male. </p>
<p>Harvard does not place as much emphasis on test scores as you think it does. You can choose to believe me or not.</p>
<ol>
<li>"Asian-Americans get the short end of the stick simply because we are overrepresented in higher education. The total Asian-American population in the US is around 4%; the presence at top institutions ranges from 10% to 35%. Therefore Asian-Americans are hit with the reverse end of affirmative action. Admissions officers roll their eyes when they see an Asian kid with high test scores and GPA. And they set the bar higher."</li>
</ol>
<p>Again, no. Most asian parents think perfect scores and perfect grades and winning ISEF and being first violin in a youth orchestra is the ticket to Harvard. I don't think so. In addition, they don't set the bar higher for asians than for anyone else. Everyone at Harvard I found to be amazing and just cool - black, white, asian, hispanic, etc. The bar has always been in place. They don't reject asians just on the fact that they're asian. In fact, four members of the admissions staff are of asian descent and they certainly don't choose only Asians or don't choose Asians. </p>
<p>Take my advice as you will. Because honestly, I could care less what you believe, and I think saxfreq, just<em>forget</em>me, candlize and Sunglasses will agree with me on this.</p>
<p>thehotrocks,</p>
<p>it seems as if you know little about college admissions</p>
<p>HYPS dont just admit students with the highest SAT scores whether they be black asian or white.</p>
<p>Although you clearly fail to realize, HYPS care about the extent to which you convey your passion in a particular subject/interest as an applicant. They know that those with great academics AND great passion are those who have the greatest potential to succeed in life.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly, Asians are widely considered to have little or no individual initiated passion. Asian applicants overwhelmingly tend to do the exact same EC's that their parents force them to do: math, piano, math, classical music. Few pursue other interests by their own initiative, such as sports, english. HYPS dont want drones whose interests are not their own, but they want passionate kids with a clear sense of unique identity.</p>
<p>I've seen many asians who had lower than 2200 hundred SAT's get into HYPS by conveying to the adcoms their unique set of interests, not simply following the crowd. Interestingly, these kids are often shunned by their the stereotypical Asian applicants with high SAT's, high GPA, but no individually initiated EC's or anything else for that matter.</p>
<p>HYPS want leaders, not followers.</p>